so taking it as zakat was prohibited because it exceeds the prescribed age category the collector is entitled to receive. He may therefore take it only with the livestock owner’s consent.

Regarding the wording, “Separate flocks must not be combined, nor combined flocks separated, for fear of zakat,” al-Shāfi‘ī held that this prohibition applies only to zakat collectors, while Mālik held that it applies only to livestock owners. The correct view is that the prohibition applies generally to both. A collector may not combine the sheep of two men whose flocks are not intermixed and assess their zakat as an intermixed flock in order to collect more than he is entitled to. Nor may he separate two intermixed flocks and assess them individually in order to collect more than he is entitled to. Likewise, livestock owners whose flocks are not intermixed may not claim that they are, thereby paying less than they owe when assessed individually. Nor may owners whose flocks are intermixed deny this arrangement in order to pay less through individual assessment than they owe on the intermixed flock.

Abū Hanīfa, who does not recognize intermixing as affecting zakat liability, understands this to mean that a collector may not combine the property of two men and assess it as belonging to one owner—for example, when two men have forty sheep between them. Nor may he divide one man’s property and assess it as several separate holdings. For example, if a man has 120 sheep, the collector may not divide them into three groups of forty and take three sheep.

In his view, mutual reimbursement applies, for example, when two men own 120 sheep in shares of one-third and two-thirds, and the collector takes two sheep from them before the flock is divided. He will thereby have taken one and one-third sheep from the flock of the owner of two-thirds, although that owner owes only one sheep, and two-thirds of a sheep from the flock of the owner of one-third, although he too owes one sheep. The owner of two-thirds therefore recovers one-third of a sheep from the other.

Section

This document of ‘Umar originates from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through several well-established, authentic routes of transmission. Among these is the report from Ibn ‘Umar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, drew up a document setting out the zakat obligations, but died before sending it to his officials. Abū Bakr acted upon it until he died, and then ‘Umar did likewise until he died. The hadith was related to this effect.

The scholars unanimously agreed upon its explicit provisions, but differed over certain points open to differing interpretations. Within the school, there is one such point: when the number of camels exceeds 120 but is fewer than 130. According to the well-known position reported from Mālik, the collector has the choice between taking